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Monday, 2 July 2012

Is there a diet for MS?

When you have an autoimmune condition, you feel a little bit helpless as you have no control over what your body is doing to itself. Diet, exercise, and how we choose to live our lives, are in our control, so it seems only natural to turn to these things to improve the quality of our lives and gain some sense of control.

Warning - This is a LONG post. If you have MS, I have tried to include links for further reading.

There are a couple of 'diets' to consider. They're not really diets, rather healthy eating.

Roy Laver Swank, was a neurologist who believed there was a possible correllation between high saturated fat intake and MS. In 1950, whilst working at the Montreal Neurological Institute, Dr Swank started to put patients with MS on a low-fat diet and then followed their progress for an incredible 36 years. You can read about him here. In his book The Multiple Sclorosis Diet Book, he outlines his low-fat diet:

Limit saturated fat to 15grams per day

Unsaturated fat (oils) should be 20-50 grams per day

No red meat for the first year, then 2 oz (57g) of medium fat meat or 3 oz (85g) of low-fat meat once per week

Chicken & turkey breast (Trimmed, no skin) 4 oz (113g)

Allowed unlimited fish but count the oil from oily fish eg: salmon

Allowed 3 eggs per week

Dairy food must contain 1% or less of butter fat (this eliminates most dairy)

The book is divided into two parts - an explaination of the diet and research, and a recipe section. The recipes are useful, just a little uninspiring, but the book was first published in 1972.

The results from his study are quite remarkable. To see a copy of the results published in The Lancet Medical Journal in 1990, see the OMS website here.

The results are quite detailed but basically, Swank divided the people in the study into good dieters (less than 20g sat fat per day) and poor dieters (more than 20g sat fat per day). The results show the change in neurological grade (disability) and the death rate - all causes, and MS only for each group. Overall the good dieters declined less and lived longer than the poor dieters.

Professor Jelinek was an Australian Professor of Emergency Medicine, when just like his mother, he was diagnosed with MS. He undertook extensive analysis of medical research, and developed a recovery program based on diet, exercise and lifestyle factors. This program is outlined in his book and on the website Overcoming Multiple Sclorosis.

These diet recommendations are based of the work of Swank and other research, but rather than have to count fats and oils, he recommends eating a plant-based wholefood diet, plus seafood, avoiding saturated and altered fats.

Eat Never - dairy products (due to evidence that there may be a link between dairy and MS), meat, egg yolks, commercial cakes, most fast food, margerine, foods fried in oil, palm oil and 'vegetable oil'

He has jokingly coined the phrase "aqua-vegan" to describe his George friendly food.

I would definately recommend this book to anybody who has MS. If you have MS or know somebody with MS, you can get a copy of the book free through The Gawler Foundation. As it was only published in 2009, the research and evidence is still relevant.

Dr Terry Walhs - Minding My Mitochondria

Dr Walhs also has MS. Her health was deteriorating to the point where she was using a tilt recline motorized wheelchair. She also took control of her diet and improved her health.

Dr Walhs started her diet based on a hunter gatherer (Paleo) style diet but ensured it included all the nutrients she needed for her brain cells and her mitochondria. I had never heard of mitochondria - so here is a definition from Biology4Kids (let's keep it simple huh?) - Mitochondria are know as the powerhouses of cells. They are the organelles that act like a digestive system that takes in nutrients, breaks them down, and creates energy for the cell. Got that?

9 comments:

Hey Kylie :) This was really interesting to read, thanks so much for sharing this info. I've been considering cutting out dairy and processed foods for a while now for a whole bunch of reasons and I guess this is another one to add to the list. Cas xx

Oh Kylie, I was so sad to read about your diagnosis. You are truly a strong and brave woman, I love your can do attitude and I am so inspired by your courage and your willingness to share. I am praying that the journey for you is the best is can be and I am sure that you will be a blessing to many people as you go. xx

strangely after reading Big Fat Lies by David Gillespie I am cutting out seed oils and adding animal fats back in- totally the opposite- but I am not dealing with your health issues either. But we also don't eat processed food- all home cooked here.

Thank you for sharing such a personal story Kylie, you're very courageous. This nutritin info is rather interesting, my son has adhd & we have been using natural therapies rather than drugs to manage him & I am happy to say its been a small miracle. He is not supposed to eat dairy or wheat due to the proteins in them not digesting fully & then acting like an oppiate in his system, then of course there is the sugar & presrvative cut backs as well as herbs & tonics from the homeopath & bio chemist. Nutrition is a powerful way to heal the body.You may enjoy reading this blog http://www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au/ . She has a pretty incredible story & some amazing advice to offer, not to mention recipes.

Good luck with everything & I hope now you have a diagnosis you will have the help needed to feel better.

Hi, well researched and you make some good points! Something I think all of us (MS or not) should take note of.... I have to also say that George Jelinek is an amazing person (who I had the pleasure of working with a few years ago) and his advice I would always recommend. It sounds like a tough diet to follow (whichever you choose), but as you say, there are only a few things we really get to control... So, good luck!

THANK YOU so much for this article! I have had MS for 18 years (since 19-thought I was going blind and deaf and it took 5 years before doctors figured out a few of my diseases). I've been looking into diets/ways of eating. And have been so confused, but keep coming back to Swank, McDougall, Jelinek! Thanks for putting it together as you did. It is a hard thing to go through, but you definitely can still do great things in your life. =)